This invention generally relates to improving fire suppression systems and techniques and, more particularly, to integrated controls for a fire truck water pump and/or a drive transmission for a fire truck to reduce the occurrence of human error and to improve the efficiency of extinguishing fires.
Fortunately, over the past 20-30 years, the total number of structural fires per year has declined. However, the total number of firefighter deaths and the amount of money lost as a result of fires has not experienced the same decline. In fact, approximately the same number of firefighters die per 100,000 structural fires currently as in years past. As there may be many reasons for this increase in firefighter casualties, one cited problem is a lack of real world experience for firefighters due to fewer occurrences of fires. While increasing the frequency of training is, of course, part of the solution, additional training alone will probably not solve all of these problems. Training inexperienced firefighters on emergency procedures and operations does not truly mimic the urgent, often confused and conflicting information present at an evolving emergency scene.
At a typical fire, quick and efficient pump and foam system operations are a necessity and are not something to be left to chance, particularly in view of the real possibility of human error. Unfortunately, human error is most likely to occur when time is most critical, that is when the fire truck first arrives at the scene of the fire and the pump must be set up. Another factor in the effectiveness of fire suppression is that the size of fire-fighting crews has been noticeably downsized in recent years, due in part to economic conditions. In some areas, fire-fighting crews that previously included 4, 5 or 6 firefighters have been reduced to only 2 or 3 individuals in recent years. Due to such manpower decreases, each firefighter must be as effective and as efficient as possible. It is often the case that the initial actions of the fire-fighting crew on the scene of a fire can determine the entire success or failure of the operation. Therefore, removing non-value added tasks and the associated opportunities for defect or error can be a real improvement in the effectiveness of firefighters.
Conventional fire trucks or other fire suppression systems include a fire pump panel that allows a firefighter to select the exact system parameters for which to fight the fire, such as pump speed and pressure, foam type and foam-to-water ratio. In operation, the firefighter is required to independently select the pump pressure or speed, then independently select the foam type, turn the foam on to release the foam into the water flow, and finally select the desired foam percentage in relation to the water flow. As is well known by those skilled in the art, this process can be relatively time consuming in an emergency and may prevent the firefighter from focusing on more critical needs. Also, this multiple selection process provides an opportunity for human error in selecting the wrong operating settings, especially if the firefighter is relatively inexperienced and is facing high stress due to the emergency situation.
While industry testing and anecdotal experience has shown that foam and a compressed air foam system (CAFS) shorten fire suppression times and can decrease water usage and physical stress on firefighters, the increased workload at the pump operator panel can be problematic. For instance, compressed air foam streams that are inappropriately adjusted at the pump operator panel can be less effective, and can even place the fire suppression team at greater risk if the output fire suppression stream has too little water content. Accordingly, the set up and operation of firefighting systems on a fire truck may be a source of error or problems that can have an impact on fire suppression and operator safety.
Referring to FIG. 1, a conventional pump control panel for fire suppression systems, generally designated 61 is shown. With such conventional pump controls the user or firefighter specifically select at least three separate parameters before beginning to extinguish the fire. For example, the conventional pump control panel 61 may include a pump pressure/speed selector 60, a separate foam type selector 62, a separate foam on/off switch 64, and a separate foam percentage selector 66. As discussed above, the process of choosing the appropriate parameters can be complicated and time consuming for firefighters during an emergency. In some instances, firefighters may completely forget to select a certain parameter, such as activating the foam on/off switch 64, resulting in a very inefficient and unproductive fire suppression technique. Alternatively, a user or operator may inadvertently select the wrong combination of water and foam flow, thus needlessly jeopardizing his or her own health and safety and the health and safety of others. Further, countless hours are invested each year into teaching firefighters to quickly and accurately select the appropriate parameters for a given fire. However, despite this investment, firefighters continue to erroneously select the proper settings. Further, when compressed air systems are added to the foam system to create compressed air foam, which has been shown to be more effective at extinguishing fires than foam systems, operation of the system becomes even more complex because the operator must determine whether air injection should be on or off and must make wet vs. dry adjustments.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a firefighter with the opportunity to chose from at least two predetermined established conditions of flow and pressure for the water and foam to meet the specific requirements of each fire by a one-touch activated sequence.